N. Kosovo Serbs want to decide on referendum question

Source: B92, Tanjug

ZVEČAN -- Representatives of northern Kosovo Serbs have stated that they should decide on the wording of a referendum question about the Brussels agreement.

(Beta, file)

“We do not want a referendum in 15 days because it is a big issue, not only for us. I believe that Serbian government is aware that this is an extremely big and responsible issue and that we cannot gamble with it,” Zubin Potok Mayor Slaviša Ristić has said.
He noted that representatives of northern Kosovo municipalities had traveled to Belgrade at every invitation of the government and that they would also come next Tuesday. However, he pointed out that they were not coming to Belgrade to “make it clear” whether the referendum would be held in 15 days.

Ristić is against First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić’s idea that the referendum should be held in the next 15 days because he believes that “such referendum would be dictated and the answer to the question would be known in advance”.

At a joint press conference in Zvečan on Friday, mayors of four northern Kosovo towns said that they still stood by the initiative that the people in Serbia needed to voice their opinion about such an important issue.

“The formulation of the question is something that is yet to be done,” Ristić added,

He claims that the question at the referendum could not be “Are you in favor of acceptance or rejection of the Brussels agreement?”

“There cannot be bargains and trades when it comes to the referendum and you cannot say the government will fall if the referendum is such that the Brussels agreements stop being valid,” the Zubin Potok mayor pointed out and added that northern Kosovo Serbs did not want the referendum so they could choose a new government.

“We are requesting the referendum because we believe that what is written in the Serbian Constitution – that Kosovo and Metohija is an integral part of Serbia, should be confirmed,” he explained.

Protest to be held on May 10 in Belgrade

The representatives of northern Kosovo Serbs also announced that they would on May 10 in Belgrade organize a protest against the Brussels agreement dubbed “We are staying in Serbia”.

“The protest’s slogan, which is nonpartisan, will be “We are staying in Serbia” and all parties and associations will be invited to join the rally without party symbols and only with state symbols,” Ristić pointed out.

He added that the protest would be organized by the northern Kosovo municipalities and added that the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) representatives would join the rally.